Louisiana Inspector General issues power puff scolding of Jindal for presidential campaign letter on state web page

You have to hand it to Inspector General Stephen Street. When he finds Bobby Jindal in violation of the law, he comes down hard. With all the force of a powder puff.

Reacting to a complaint from C.B. Forgotston over Jindal’s use of his office’s taxpayer-funded web page and public salaried employees of the governor’s office to issue a press release critical of Republican presidential nomination candidate Sen. Rand Paul on Thursday, Street took all of two days is issue a less than scathing report on the matter. Statement from Inspector General 5-29-2015

Jindal, who is expected to announce his candidacy next month, issued the press release that said Rand was “unsuited to be Commander-in-Chief” for saying American foreign policy was instrumental in the creation of ISIS.

Louisiana Democratic Party Executive Director Stephen Handwerk called for an investigation by Attorney General Buddy Caldwell and Forgotston filed a complaint with Street’s office.

Jindal, for his part, defended the release through mouthpiece Mike Reed who offered one of the lamest of the lame in defenses in saying, “Matters of national security are very important to Louisianians, and Louisiana is home to many American soldiers. The suggestion that the governor of Louisiana cannot or should not comment on matters of national security is without merit.”

What? Mudslides, drought, forest fires and earthquakes are important to the folks in California. Floods are important to those unfortunate people in Texas and Oklahoma and at least a dozen states have been plagued with tornadoes. Why doesn’t he issue a press release criticizing nature?

It wasn’t the first time Bobby defended a really bad idea. Remember those $250 million berms he insisted on building in the Gulf to catch all that oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster? Despite advice from all the experts that the idea was a bad one, he plunged ahead (no pun intended) and what happened? The berms and the bulldozers hauled in to build them up simply disappeared into the depths of the Gulf waters. And even after all that, he continued to insist the berms were a good idea.

Too bad Jindal has not been as tuned in to the matters of fiscal insecurity that are also important to Louisianians. If he were, perhaps the state wouldn’t be finding it necessary to slash higher education and health care budgets. Health care, after all, is pretty important to Louisianians, too—especially to those who don’t have it because of Bobby Jindal. So are our roads and bridges and coastal erosion—things a sitting governor should be devoting his attention to instead of remarks by a potential political rival.

Forgotston, prior to Street’s crushing blow to Jindal, wrote, “While you are working on the response to my complaint about the governor violating the state constitution, please include your position on his violation of this felony statute:

R.S. 18:1465. Prohibited use of public funds

A. No public funds shall be used to urge any elector to vote for or against any candidate or proposition, or be appropriated to a candidate or political organization. This provision shall not prohibit the use of public funds for dissemination of factual information relative to a proposition appearing on an election ballot.

B. Whoever violates any provision of this Section shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars or be imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than two years, or both.

Street, for his part, showed all the backbone of a jellyfish in his Friday release that followed his thorough, two-day investigation of Jindal’s taxpayer-funded campaign release tirade.

After reprinting Jindal’s statement, Street went on to say, “It is a matter of record that Senator Rand Paul has announced his candidacy for President of the United States and has a website…through which he is raising money to support his campaign. However, as qualifying for the Louisiana Presidential Primary will not take place until December of 2015, it is unclear at this time whether Senator Paul is a “candidate” as contemplated by …the Louisiana Constitution.

A person who meets the qualifications for the office he seeks may become a candidate and be voted on in a primary or general election if he qualifies as a candidate in the election.

He also cited a statute which, while defining the word candidate, “specifically excludes those seeking the Presidency of the United States from the definition.” He said inasmuch as that provision is in the chapter dealing with campaign finance, it is unclear how broadly it applies to the Louisiana Constitution).

Street, while dancing around the issue, did acknowledge that the applicable section of constitution “is intended to protect public funds and therefore raises questions about the use of public funds in this instance that resulted in the complaints filed with this office. The governor’s office could have easily avoided such questions by issuing the statement through means that did not involve the use of public funds or employees,” he said, adding that his office “recommends that in order to avoid confusion and any appearance of impropriety in the future, any such statements by the governor be issued through non-publicly funded means rather than through his publicly funded and maintained state website.”

Wow. Jindal must feel like Street jerked a half-hitch in his neck with that devastating report.

I heard a rumor that Jindal would order the National Guard to fly him down to the coast almost daily back then, and he’d bring along some news people each day to do interviews and take video of him looking serious while standing next to tar balls, etc.

I also heard that in doing so, he was eschewing the state helicopter at his disposal. Apparently, he gets a kick out of playing army. I forget how much extra they said that cost, but it was substantial.

Later when citizens displaced by that giant sinkhole actually needed him to show up, it took months because he was busy giving speeches up the East Coast.

Yup. Any teeth this dog had fell out years ago. You can lump this office right in there with the hundreds of corrupt and/or wasteful commissions our state would be better off without. So do us a favor leges and eliminate this waste of money and time.

It’s absurd to suggest that Rand Paul’s statements are indications that he would, if elected, pose an existential threat to national security. In doing so, Jindal is employing the slippery slope logical fallacy*.

By claiming that it’s his duty to warn Louisianians about this supposed grave threat to national security, Jindal is tilting at windmills. It makes one wonder what the standards are for Rhodes scholarships, and Oxford, Yale and Harvard admissions.

Slipper Slope Logical Fallacy:

“When a relatively insignificant first event is suggested to lead to a more significant event, which in turn leads to a more significant event, and so on, until some ultimate, significant event is reached, where the connection of each event is not only unwarranted, but with each step it becomes more and more improbable. Many events are usually present in this fallacy, but only two are actually required — usually connected by “the next thing you know…””

Jindal called out Rand Paul as another desperate attempt to make himself relevant as a GOP running for President. Gosh. watching him draw attention to himself is the equivalent of sitting through American Idol reruns when they select the worst singers to perform so the world can laugh at them. Let’s face it, we could use a few good laughs. This recent Junder Blunder didn’t cost us anything!! However, it should cost him by slapping the penalty on him. Stephen Street has made himself useless and corrupt. Wonder what else SS sweeps under the rugs???

Street office is in Jindal’s office??He is actually funny. I requested an investigation re Teepell using state funds while Jindal was campaigning for reelection (Tom, you had him solid doing this). Street responded. This is a law enforcement agency. You should contact the office of the Governor. Good luck. Now, that is funny.ron thompson

The IG is appointed by the governor with consent of the legislature, now to a 6 year term. Bill Lynch, a former investigative reporter, was the first inspector general and was appointed by Buddy Roemer to report directly to him pursuant to investigations of fraud and corruption in state government. Currently, the IG serves at the pleasure of the governor, but dismissal must also be approved by the legislature. It is ironic that a position originally created to provide investigative services to the governor is now being asked to investigate the governor.

Folks, be careful what you wish for. The big biz rightwingers in the legislature are the ones who always call for disbanding the OIG (which has a small budget and staff-I think about 12). Yes, it’s disappointing, but remember Jindal is Street’s boss. Legislative Auditor writes tons of reports that almost no one reads and are non-binding; Attorney General basically doesn’t investigate state agencies or prosecute state leaders. OIG is the only state entity with real prosecution authority. It needs to be an elected post but definitely not eliminated.

Fair enough and I, for one, am not for eliminating the OIG, but I must have missed any reports of recent actions by the OIG to root out corruption, fraud, or anything else. So, what I am saying is the IG needs to DO SOMETHING to justify his existence whether it involves his boss or not.

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